Month: November 2016

Full Share
Year: 2008
Author: Nathan Lowell
Length: 300 pages
It may have taken three books to get there, but this is the story I was expecting from the start of this series. Full of action, romance, uncertain futures, and career advancement, Nathan Lowell’s Full Share takes full advantage of the setup provided in the previous two books of the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series. Almost acting as a capstone to a trilogy, this novel wraps up Ishmael Wang’s time on the Louis McKendrick as it sets him up to reach even higher in his career. Each piece of the plot set in place is shown to be significant as the story reaches an exciting midpoint.
All qualms I had of Lowell’s previous books in this series have been ably dispelled through this book. While Quarter Share lacked in the excitement of real ship emergencies and romantic subplots, Full Share gives ample helpings of critical problems and social setups. Now that Ishmael’s manhood...

How Then Shall We Live?
Year: 2015
Author: Stephanie Rodda
Length: 146 pages
The book with a question that’s practically answered from page one is as close as one could ever come to an “apocalyptic utopia” story. As a Christian, I understand the power of what God can do, but I also understand that some things come with His timing. In this book, each time a challenge arises, God seems to step in immediately and solve it, which really detracts from any thematic tension that could be present. Nothing really ever gets to the point where there’s an unbearable hardship because then it would seem like God isn’t instantly answering the characters’ prayers.
Then there’s the characters. While I understand from reading the “study questions” at the end that these are based somewhat on real people, I found the characters in this book to be flat, cookie-cutter versions of ideal Christians. They didn’t feel human to me at all. I’d expect people in their situation...

Half Share
Year: 2007
Author: Nathan Lowell
Length: 252 pages
Well . . . that escalated quickly. In the previous book of the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series, I found the plot to be engaging and well-paced, despite the naïveté of the main protagonist. Ishmael Wong seemed to be a bit lacking in his romantic knowledge, sometimes oblivious of obvious euphemisms. For a kid of only 18 who really only spent time with his mother, I can understand how he might not know these things. It was the one thing I found a little unbelievable in Quarter Share, but boy did Half Share make up for it.
Some of the plot felt a little formulaic and procedural by this point in the saga, which was good in the sense that it continued the realism and engagement of its predecessor. However, this also meant that there wasn’t as much progression of the sub-plots and minor characters like there was in Quarter Share. This book...